Partnerships & Volunteers // Belize/Catalyst Corporate

2008/8/11

Belize CU League, Southwest Corporate Formalize Partnership Agreement

PLANO, Texas—Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union and the
Belize Credit Union League (BCUL) have signed an international
partnership agreement of mutual cooperation between the two credit
union entities. The agreement, signed August 8 as part of World Council
of Credit Unions' (WOCCU) International Partnerships program, follows
eight months of an informal cooperation between the two groups and
marks the first time a corporate credit union has partnered directly
with a national credit union movement.

"We are thrilled to be
the first corporate credit union to enter into this type of cooperative
arrangement," said John Cassidy, president & CEO of Southwest
Corporate. "It is our intent to nurture this relationship beyond
financial support. We are interested in a long-term, mutually
beneficial relationship, and an aggressive exchange of ideas has
already begun."

Corporate credit unions offer services that
allow natural person credit unions to better meet member needs,
according to Victor Miguel Corro, WOCCU's International Partnerships
manager. By sharing information about topics such as payment systems,
ALM training, interconnectivity and wire transfers, the two
organizations will establish a relationship based on topics more
technical in nature. Credit union leagues, on the other hand, play a
bigger role in mounting advocacy efforts on the part of their partner
organizations. As with leagues, Corro added, the benefits of the
relationship between the two groups will travel in both directions.

"We have been working with corporates very closely for a long time;
they play a very important role in WOCCU's development work overseas.
To go further and sign a partnership agreement with a country is
certainly taking it to the next level," Corro explained. "My hope is
that many other corporates work along with WOCCU and lend their
expertise to strengthen the industry around the world."

To accommodate the large group, the hosts
organized various roundtable educational sessions with local credit
union executives to cover key areas of interest. The three roundtable
sessions discussed information technology operations and security,
business continuity, product development and marketing and loan
operations.

"We view Southwest Corporate as part of an
evolved credit union system and hope that the knowledge that they have
to share with us will help Belize in its mission to have stronger
credit unions," said Natalie Goff, BCUL's executive director. "We also
hope that Southwest Corporate can learn from the passion that the
Belize credit unionists have for their credit unions. We look forward
to a long lasting relationship with Southwest Corporate."

In
addition to the roundtable sessions, the delegates also participated in
a training session on board governance and operational tours of local
credit unions. Goff visited the Texas Credit Union League's Bob
Gallman, senior vice president and chief operations officer, and Mike
Delker, vice president of credit union relations, to discuss league
operations. The visit concluded with the partnership agreement signing
between Southwest Corporate and BCUL.